Dullahan
by MariaMagi
Summary: After dying at Gamzee's hands, Nepeta awakens in a strange place she has never seen, in a way she did not wish to be. And now she will have to find a way to stay with the one she loves- or she will have to take his life. Katnep again!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey all! This is another Katnep AU for you all! This time it's in the early 1900's in Ireland :D

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**Dullahan: A faerie from Irish folklore. She rides around cloaked in black, on a carriage called a coiste-bodhar. She carries her severed head under her arm. If she throws a bucket of blood on you, you are fated to die.**

When I woke up, I was not as I should be.

The last thing I recall is seeing Equius being horribly, terribly mangled.

Then my vision went red with anger and pain.

And now I find myself here.

I can see, but not normally. It's a different field of vision.

And my head isn't where it should be. I'm holding it.

I'm sitting in a carriage drawn by a headless horse. A basin of blood is sitting by my feet.

It's an odd vision by any standard.

I hear a loud scream from far off. I make no movement to go, but the horse in front of me rears up into the air and begins to move. We race down the mountain at a breakneck pace that would leave me winded if It were me running. We stop at the foot of the mountain. I see a boy with pitch-black hair standing near the road. The source of the screaming is clinging to his back.

"He is fated to die!" it screams. "He is yours to take!"

The boy falls over in shock. He yells a curse that sounds all-too familiar, before yelling, "A dullahan!"

I will my claws to appear, but instead, a whip appears in my hand. I trip and the basin of blood tips over onto the boy. I manage to right myself, and I attack the strange creature.

I look over to see the boy, his eyes redder than the blood, lose consciousness as the strange creature fades into the black of night.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Depressing chapter! Keep that in mind. You might want to skip the flashback if the part where Nepeta died bothered you…**

**This was really kind of inspired by a video called "I'm a ghost of a girl" I found on Youtube. If you can find it, watch it, it's very good and emotional ;w;**

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**Chapter 2**

**Dullahan: A faerie from Irish folklore. She rides around cloaked in black, on a carriage called a coiste-bodhar. She carries her severed head under her arm. If she throws a bucket of blood on you, you are fated to die.**

"Karkat…?" The name leaves my lips before I can think straight.

I hear more terrible screams. I would have whipped my head around to look, but due to the fact that it was now lying on the seat of the carriage I was sitting in, I can't exactly do that. Instead I turn the part of my neck dependent on sight, and I see more of the creatures. I grab the boy and hoist him into the carriage, and terrifying memories return to me…

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I heard the snap first. I looked out in terror as Gamzee glared at Equius, who seemed surprisingly happy at this change in Gamzee's behaviour.

"_Kneel._"

I held back a scream as Gamzee maniacally yelled "honk honk honk honk honk honk honk honk" and yanked the bowstring tightly around Equius's neck. To his credit, he died with a smile on his face, but his paling visage terrified me. I had seen some terrible things, watched animals bleed out daily, had seen Gamzee write, "Are you next? :o)" on the wall in Tavros's blood.

But nothing could have prepared my for this.

I did the only thing I could have after witnessing my moirail die.

I leaped out of the vent within which I was hiding, pouncing on Gamzee. I couldn't even speak- what came out of my mouth was a war cry, a screech of wrath, an incomprehensible cry to avenge the Heir of Void.

I saw a juggling club coming out of nigh-nowhere and slamming into my head. The screech of wrath turned into a screech of pain, but I refused to back down. I lashed out with my claws. He muttered "honk" again, before roughly grabbing my wrist. He squeezed until I heard a sickening snap and pain lanced up my arm, making me arch involuntarily in a futile effort to protect the shattered, now-useless limb. There were tears in my eyes, and when he saw them, he began to laugh. I shuddered in fear. I had seen the look I knew I was giving off before, in the eyes of my prey.

The hunter had become the quarry.

He raked my claws on his face, leaving deep trails of purple.

He dropped me onto the ground, and I saw him walk away.

I knew I was dying. I had never wanted to die alone. Even though Equius was there, he was already long gone.

So I did what I always did with blood.

I dipped my fingers of my good hand into the blood streaming down my face, and I painted pictures next to me.

Everyone. Terezi and her scalemates, Tavros standing up, Vriska as her roleplay character, Equius, Aradia, and Sollux, Feferi and Eridan, Gamzee eating a pie, Kanaya with a sketchbook… And finally, Karkat, next to me, tall as I remember him. I smelled rain on the wind. When it rained, all of it would wash back around me. I knew that. I closed my tear-filled eyes, reaching out for the matesprit that wasn't there.

And then everything faded to black.

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I manage to put a lot of space between me and the monsters before I finally allowed myself to stop. The boy sits up, seeing the red blood on him, dried by now. His gaze moves towards me, in fear.

"I'm going to die, then?" His voice is so like Karkat's, so much so that I almost start crying all over again.

"….?" I look around, trying to find some way to communicate. I see a small pad of paper on the ground nearby, so I jump out of the carriage and pick in up. Then I reach over to the basin and write, "I'm not going to hurt you." He doesn't seem to believe me, so I write below, "This is actually a little bit embarrassing, but what is a dullahan?"

He looks at me strangely, before saying, "A dullahan is a faerie of the Unseelie court. She carries her severed head under her arm and searches for those who are dying. And once the basin of blood is emptied onto the person, they are marked to be killed by her."

That statement hits me like a juggling club the size of a Lusus. I sit straight in shock for a few moments before I double over in the pain of my accident. All I had wanted was to be with him, but now I'll never get to…

I feel something odd. I look up and see his hand, lightly touching the smoke with which I can see.

"Are your insides on fire or something?" He asks sarcastically. I write a negative answer on the paper and he actually looks somewhat disappointed.

I'm about to ask him name when I hear the monsters from earlier crying out. I forcefully jerk the reins and the headless horse in front of me begins to run against its normal will. The Karkat-like boy tumbles backward against the bench I'm seated on, narrowly missing the basin of blood again. I steal a look down at my head.

There are tears running down my face.


End file.
